No Control (Book 1)

40. Truly Madly Deeply

I refused to say another word to Calvin, and instead occupied myself by reading my Twitter mentions while Calvin and Maddie finished painting the spare room. Calvin had indeed posted the video of me singing and dancing to Taylor Swift on Twitter, and my One Direction t-shirt was clearly visible, much to my horror. The only saving grace was the very end of the video, where I could clearly be heard saying, "Don't you dare show that to anyone," and Calvin laughing. At least it was obvious I didn't know I was being filmed.

Most people on Twitter seemed to think it was some sort of dig at Harry, and rumours were flying around, speculating about what he might have done. I was desperate to set the record straight but I knew I couldn't say or do anything without adding fuel to the fire.

I was more upset over Calvin's behaviour towards Harry on the phone, and my stomach was churning with the worry that Calvin really had ruined everything between Harry and me. I didn't let myself question why I was so affected by it, and I wouldn't allow myself to ponder Calvin's view of my feeling towards Harry.

After an hour of torturing myself with everyone's opinions on my private life, I threw my phone down on the bed and sighed. I looked at the clock. Sound check was bound to be over by now and Harry hadn't texted me. I hated Calvin.

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. My thoughts were broken by my ringtone Oh, I just wanna take you anywhere that you like, we could go out any day any night....

I shot up and scrambled on the bed for my phone. It was Harry! Heart hammering, I swiped the screen.

"Hi," I said nervously.

"Hey," he said cheerfully. "Have you sorted things out with your brother yet?"

"We're not speaking," I muttered.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

Was he joking?

"Are you joking?" I said. "He had no right taking my phone like that, asking you all those questions..." I trailed off as I felt my face flush as Calvin's words came back to me.

"It's fine," Harry said. "He's your big brother, I get it. Are you having a good weekend apart from that?"

OK, he was being completely normal with me. Did this mean Calvin hadn't scared him off?

"Um, yeah, it's OK," I said, trying to maintain the normal conversation. "I've had a load of questions from Maddie about you and me, but nothing I couldn't handle."

"Oh yeah, she's another fan, isn't she," Harry said, and I heard rustling and a bang.

"Yeah, she's the reason I'm a fan," I said. "What's that noise?"

"What noise?"

"That rustling and a thump."

"Oh, probably just me getting comfy on the sofa," he said. "I'm in my dressing room and I've got a few hours to kill before we're due on stage. I thought I'd hang out with you for a bit."

My stomach did its familiar flips and jumps as his words registered. "You're not running for the hills after the Spanish Inquisition then?" I asked, awkwardly.

There was a pause. "No," he said, sounding completely confused. "What do you mean?"

"IthoughtCalvinmighthavescaredyouoff," I mumbled quickly. Why oh why was I admitting this? What happened to keeping him on his toes?

There was another pause. "Are you winding me up?" he asked.

I sighed. "No. Just forget it."

"Why would you think that?" he asked.